I moved to the Highlands from London 20 years ago to enjoy a healthier lifestyle, lots of hill walking, cycling and organic gardening as well as to bring up my daughters in a more natural environment. I can see a few patients and then climb the mountain behind my house, cycle into the wilderness, swim in the river or pick some organic vegetables from my garden.

This is a picture of my treatment room at home, it has a lovely view into my rather wild garden and down the glen, where I live. It is not the most practical place to have a clinic, out in the sticks, 7 miles from the nearest town and the roads can be icy in the winter, however, many patients choose to see me here as it is so quiet and peaceful, the only distruption may be baaing sheep and occasionally roaring deer, there are no parking problems and appointments are very relaxed, I can see people at odd times if they are desperate for treatment and work to suit my time and my patients’. I also have clinics in two nearby towns of Inverness and Dingwall, where I can enjoy the company of other therapists and offer more accessible treatment opportunities. But it is the room at home that has all my certificates, the things I brought back from China, all my most treasured books, charts and a big medicine cabinet full of Chinese herbs.

Having a clinic at home used to be more disruptive to family life, having to ask my daughters to be quiet and endlessly tidying up, but now that they are older and often not at home this is no longer a problem. I do still get into a bit of a cleaning frenzy just before clients come, but I only make sure the bit they walk through and their bathroom is kept as clean and as tidy as I can.

I must admit that social media, blogging etc. is not my strong point. I love reading and learning more about my patient’s conditions and have just started blogging on my new mobile friendly website, hopefully I will keep this up, but I do find constant Facebook posts about other people’s businesses very annoying and would not like to inflict that on my patients, so a happy medium will have to be found. Finding a a reasonably priced mobile system for card payment that I can use at all my practices has so far alluded me, they are all so expensive, one practice has no mobile signal and another has slow wifi , so finding a good solution is hard!

I have never regretted moving up here form London, I know if I had stayed I would have busier clinics and would also be teaching, however I have opted for lifestyle over work and have overall been happy with that choice. I go to London to visit regularly and catch up with courses, old acupuncture friends etc, I love it for about 3 days and then am desperate to leave. I could not go back to that crazy, overcrowded life, but take my hat off to those who have stayed and made the best of it.